In an interview with the Swiss daily Corriere del Ticino on Dec. 22, 2025, Paolo Ardoino, the founder and CEO of Tether, the financial firm issuing digital tokens, insisted that Tether and in general, Stablecoins, attract depositors away from banks by promising a 100% protection for their money, whereas banks guarantee only up to a certain amount—€100,000 in the European Union.
“We have about 80% in cash equivalents and overall deposit coverage of 120%. If people start asking themselves why they should keep their money in the bank, where they will only recover part of it in the event of bankruptcy, when they can use a fully collateralized instrument, it is clear that from the central banks’ point of view this becomes a systemic problem.”
What Ardoino does not say is that, in case Tether goes broke, nothing is guaranteed. This lies in the ambiguity of the relation with the customer. Whereas a bank is legally a debtor toward the client who has entrusted the bank with his/her money, with Stablecoin issuers, the customer exchanges money for a token and the money becomes an asset of the Stablecoin issuer.
This legal distinction allows Ardoino to say, “we don’t have to lend our customers’ money to maintain the structure, as traditional banks do.” In substance, it was the customer’s money which, however, has changed property. The Stablecoin issuer has a deal with the customer, for a reverse exchange whenever the customer wants.
The thing seems to work as long as Tether can invest in U.S. short-term bonds, which bring a relatively higher and presumably “safer” return—which, however, does not go to the customer but to Tether.
Tether has also invested massively in gold. Tether bought more gold than any central bank in the world in Q3 2025, according to a Financial Times report. During the year, it purchased 26 tons of gold, bringing its total reserves to over 116 tons and becoming the largest “independent” holder of gold, i.e., outside of central banks and governments, with a weight representing about 2% of global demand and almost 12% of annual purchases by central banks. Is Tether aiming at replacing U.S. dollar assets altogether in view of a U.S. debt crash? In that case, being obliged only to exchange U.S. dollars with its customers would sacrifice only a tiny portion of its gold reserves. Its customers would lose significantly.
In the Dec. 22, 2025 interview, Ardoino makes it also clear that Tether will destroy bank credit. “Unlike banks, we do not have the privilege of holding only 10% in cash reserves. Regulations for stablecoins, such as the U.S. GENIUS Act, are very strict: we cannot extend credit, we cannot lend money to a customer to buy a car; we do not broker and we do not manage investments on behalf of our users. We issue, against collateral, a digital token equivalent to one U.S. dollar: when the user wants the dollar back, they simply return the token to us and we return the dollar.”
On Nov. 26, 2025, Standard & Poor’s Global downgraded its rating of Tether, citing an increase in higher-risk assets in its reserves and “persistent gaps in disclosure.” S&P now rates the USDT, Tether’s token, to 5 (weak), which is the lowest possible score, downgrading it from 4 (constrained).
